“Aye, I took it all tae ye.”
“Are there any markings, levers, holes, or anything on the wood to indicate that there are any other hidden panels?”
“Nae that I was able tae find. I looked over every surface, but there was nothing.”
Cleo nodded and arose. “Let us search every element of the room to ensure that absolutely nothing has been missed. We should be certain that the bookshelves do not hold any hidden panels as well.”
Mrs. McGrath had remained in the hallway to give Cleo time to process her emotions, but at this request she stepped inside and the three of them began searching every surface in the room. When they had completed their inspection, they stood in the center of the room frowning together. “Nothing,” Cleo murmured. “We found nothing.” Her disappointment was palpable. After finding the other two hidden messages, she had hoped to find something else that might reveal the newest message’s true meaning.
Mrs. McGrath placed her arm around Cleo’s waist in reassurance. “We will find a way tae translate yer faither’s message. Dinnae fash, my dear.”
“There is probably something in my father’s journals, as Arthur said before, on the matter. It is time to return home.” Cleo took one last lingering look around her father’s office, then turned and walked out, closing yet another door on the past.
Chapter 7
Arthur returned to the Wallace residence with Cleo and Mrs. McGrath. Mrs. McGrath went into the kitchen to prepare tea, while Arthur and Cleo entered the study to go through the professor’s crates. Cleo picked back up the paper with the message on it.
“Kh wkh juhdw,
kh zkr sxoohg
vzrug iurp vwrqh,
iru grrphg oryh
kh vzdoorzhg iluh,
wkh wuxwk brx ilqg
ehqhdwk klv ihhw.”
Arthur chuckled at her attempts to make the sounds phonetically. Cleo winced as she heard her own voice. It was a terrible sounding mess. “There is no making sense of this,” she shook her head in frustration.
“In time,” Arthur reminded himself as much as her.
“Right,” Cleo nodded her head in determination. “Let us begin.”
Arthur placed the crate filled with Arthurian lore on the desk. “Let us begin with these. The notes in the margins have a similar disorderliness tae them as the messages yer faither left ye. Perhaps we will unearth something more within them.”
“That sounds as reasonable a place to begin as any,” Cleo agreed and pulled one of her father’s books from the crate. Mrs. McGrath entered with the tea and the three of them set to going through the crate together. Hours passed, each busily scribbling notes on the items that they thought might help them in deciphering the message. There were regular notes in English that seemed simply historical in nature, while others were coded anagrams similar to that of the first message, but they too appeared to be only of historical note with no impact in the present.
They spent the remainder of the day buried in books. They went through every crate from the professor’s office looking for something similar to that of the most recent message but found nothing. Darkness began to fall outside of the windows as Arthur arose to take his leave. “We will solve this. Dinnae lose hope.” Cleo stood and walked to the door with him.
“I will do my utmost.”
“I ken that ye will. I must return tae my estate upon the morrow tae see tae matters that have been long in the planning, but I will return as soon as I am able. If I decipher anything at all I will send word tae ye at once.”
“Thank you, My Lord.”
Arthur raised his brow in question.
“Thank you, Arthur.”
Arthur smiled. Promised, “Always.”
* * *
Cleo watched Arthur walk away and felt a strange fluttering in her stomach. She had greatly enjoyed spending the day with him in spite of the sad pall that hung over everything. She missed her father and searching for the answers to the riddles with Arthur had somehow given her a piece of her father back to her. Returning to the study, she found Mrs. McGrath attempting to tidy the space back to its original state.
